


The Best That We Can Do

by doctorhelena



Series: The Best That We Can Do [1]
Category: Agent Carter (Marvel Short Film), Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Agent Carter Valentines Exchange 2018, Case Fic, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 07:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorhelena/pseuds/doctorhelena
Summary: Peggy and Howard make an unexpected discovery.





	The Best That We Can Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littlereyofsunlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlereyofsunlight/gifts).



> This is a gift for littlereyofsunlight, who asked for “fluff, funny, cute, hijinks” for the Agent Carter Valentines Exchange. It got a little less fluffy than originally planned (see end notes), but it does have hijinks, and I hope you like it!
> 
> Features the handy briefcase from the Agent Carter short.

As Peggy tucked in her chin, stepped backwards, and threw her opponent over her hip, she hoped the Jarvises were having a better evening than she was.

She whirled around as her assailant scrambled to his feet and swung at her with a wide hook. Peggy ducked underneath, coming up with an uppercut to the jaw that knocked him out neatly. She rubbed her knuckles and tucked an errant hair behind her ear before bending over him and patting him down for weapons.

He had one gun, which she tossed to Howard, who caught it neatly in one hand as he ambled out from behind his car as if he were simply out for an evening stroll. “I’m going to do my best to forget we ever had this conversation,” Peggy said, “but do you happen to have handcuffs in the car?”

Howard waggled his eyebrows and leaned into the passenger side window, fiddling with the glove box. “Say what you will, Peg, I’m always prepared.” He tossed her a set of decidedly non-regulation cuffs, and she snapped them onto her prisoner’s wrists.

“Now,” she said, to the still-unconscious man, “I’m afraid I’ll have to stash you in the boot of the car whilst we investigate.” She shrugged. “It may not be so bad. Knowing Howard it’s probably got silk upholstery and its own bar.”

Howard helped her heave him into what, rather disappointingly, appeared to be a regular car boot with no special modifications. “We’ll be back shortly,” she promised the still-unconscious man, then slammed the lid down. “Well,” she said, turning to Howard, “I think your instincts were correct. Let’s go see what he didn’t want us to find.”

Howard sighed wistfully. “You know, Peg, I could have been having a romantic dinner with Lana Turner right about now.”

“And I could have been out dancing with the “perfect man” Angie claims she’s found for me,” said Peggy, turning back to grin at him. “But honestly, Howard, isn’t this more fun?”

***********

Peggy hadn’t been holding out great hopes for her Valentine’s Day plans, although she’d been trying to keep an open mind. Her relationship with Daniel had turned out in the end to be a bit of a rebound fling, and had ended rather unsatisfactorily for both of them. But she did feel ready to move on, should the right partner present himself, and in the meantime, she had plenty to occupy her.

Angie, however, apparently felt the need to hurry the process along, although her ideas of the sort of man Peggy would find appealing so far left something to be desired. Still, one never knew, and she’d been prepared to endure the evening for Angie’s sake until fate, in the form of Edwin Jarvis, had intervened.

He’d stopped by her desk in the brand-new SHIELD office after delivering Howard’s lunch on Wednesday afternoon. “Might I ask you something, Director?” As always, he pronounced ‘Director’ with a particularly pleased emphasis that made Peggy hide a smile.

She looked up from her sandwich. “Of course, Mr. Jarvis. What is it?”

“Have you made plans for Saturday evening?” He cleared his throat. “Valentine’s Day?”

Peggy raised an eyebrow. “Good Lord, has Ana found the perfect man for me too? Well, I’m afraid Angie’s beat her to it this time.” She was unable to keep a slight exasperation out of her tone.

The corner of Jarvis’s mouth twitched upward. “No, I’m happy to say that after the ah - the Sousa experience - both Mrs. Jarvis and I have given up on matchmaking for you, Miss Carter.” Peggy grinned, and he tapped his fingers on the desk. “No, I have a - a personal favour to ask.”

Peggy put down her sandwich. “Is everything all right?”

“Oh, yes, fine” he said. “It’s just that - I would very much like to take Ana out for an evening of dinner and dancing for Valentine’s Day. It is our wedding anniversary, believe it or not.” He shook his head ruefully. “We weren’t thinking of the date at the time, having much more pressing matters on our minds.”

Peggy nodded. “Yes, I imagine so.” She took another bite of her sandwich, and swallowed, raising an eyebrow at him when he still hadn’t spoken. “Well, that sounds lovely, but I’m not entirely clear on where I come in.”

Jarvis sighed. “I need you to keep Mr. Stark busy.”

Peggy swallowed the bite of sandwich she’d just eaten without really chewing it. “You - what?” she asked, thumping on her chest, then reaching for her cup of tea.

“Can you breathe?” asked Jarvis with some concern, but when she nodded, he sighed again. “I will always be grateful to Mr. Stark for what he did for Ana and myself. But he can be rather demanding and unpredictable at times.”

Peggy set down her tea. “You don’t say,” she said drily. “I take it you’re afraid he’s going to request your services at the last minute, thereby forcing you to cancel your plans.”

“It is rather a pattern of his,” said Jarvis. “If it isn’t a last-minute date he needs help preparing for, he suddenly becomes obsessed with something in the lab and needs immediate assistance. Just this once, I’d like to -” He suddenly became very interested in the stapler on Peggy’s desk. “This year has been difficult for Ana. And for me.”

Peggy wasn’t sure if Jarvis had intended to remind her of her own role in their difficulties, but she owed him a number of favours regardless. “I - ” she said, slowly, “I think I have something that might distract him.”  

*********

Valentine’s Day was on a Saturday this year, which made a professional distraction a little trickier, but luckily neither Howard nor Peggy were terribly inclined to take the day of the week into account when work came calling.

She showed up at his house in the late afternoon armed with a metal containment box. Jarvis, at the door, looked relieved to see her. “You’ve arrived just in time. He’s leafing through his little black book as we speak.”

Peggy grinned. “Well, let’s see if I can’t head him off at the pass.” She gave him a look. “But if he’s positively determined on romance this evening, I’m afraid you’re on your own.”

“There is only so much I would ask of you,” Jarvis agreed, taking her coat and leading her down the stairs to the lab.

Howard was, indeed, leafing through a small notebook, looking thoughtful. “Jarvis, do you think Lana Turner’s still mad about the whole Ginger Rogers thing?”

Peggy rolled her eyes heavenward and then cleared her throat loudly.

“Oh, hi Peg!” Howard said with a grin. He inclined his head towards the containment box. “Brought me a Valentine’s Day gift? You shouldn’t have!”

Jarvis retreated upstairs, looking cautiously optimistic about his evening plans, as Peggy nodded. “In a sense, I suppose. I need your expert opinion.”

Howard held out his hand, and Peggy gave him the box. “One of our agents found this in an apartment he was raiding in lower Manhattan. We suspect the owner of the apartment is associated with Leviathan, but this looks very much like Hydra technology.”

Howard opened the case. “Huh. It does.” He shrugged, setting down his notebook. “Well, let’s take a closer look.”

Peggy trailed after him as he set about pulling equipment out of various drawers and cupboards and began taking measurements. She felt a little guilty for waiting three days to look into this, but it might be nothing after all, and there had been no shortage of active investigations to manage in the meantime.

“So, no Valentine’s Day plans?” asked Howard, as he fiddled with the dials on what looked like some sort of oscilloscope.

She shook her head and shrugged. “I never really do.” She hadn’t gone on a Valentine’s Day date, since Fred, really, come to think of it.

He looked up at her. “What, not a fan of chocolate? Hate flowers?” He grinned. “I seem to recall Steve giving you something in France that one year.”

What Steve had given her had resulted in two large muddy handprints on the backside of her combat trousers, and endless teasing from Howard and the Howling Commandos. She fixed Howard with a look. “That wasn’t for Valentine’s Day, particularly.” It had been rather romantic, though, and she felt herself flush a little, remembering.

Howard raised both eyebrows, but the oscilloscope beeped, and he frowned at the wave pattern displayed across the front. “Huh. Where did you get this again?”

“Agent Roberts brought it in from an apartment in Manhattan. Suspected Leviathan agent.”

Howard’s eyebrows were furrowed. “Can we still get into the apartment?”

Peggy shrugged. “The suspect is still in custody, so I imagine so. Why?”

Howard looked at her. “This thing is emitting the same energy signal as the Tesseract. I’d like to take some readings at the apartment after I run a few more tests here.”

She nodded. “All right.”

He gestured at a chair. “Have a seat, Peg, this might take a while.” She sighed, and sat.

**************

Several hours later, Jarvis came downstairs, looking rather dapper and bearing a plate of sandwiches. “Well, we’re off,” he said, cheerfully, shooting a cautious look at Howard, who didn’t even look up. “Well, you’ve certainly managed to distract him,” he said approvingly to Peggy.

“We seem to have stumbled upon something rather bigger than I expected,” she said, taking the plate and setting it down on the lab table beside her. Howard’s muttered comments had been rather ominous. The device itself appeared to be a sort of energy grenade, but the larger concern, of course, was that it appeared to be powered by energy from the Tesseract, although the Tesseract itself was currently in secure lockup at a top-secret SHIELD facility.

Ana poked her head down from the top of the stairs. “Edwin?” she called, and Peggy stood up, stretching out her shoulders.

“Happy anniversary!” she called up to Ana, who stepped further onto the landing to twirl in her dress. “You look stunning. Have a lovely evening, you two.”

Howard poked his head up too. “Oh, is it your anniversary?” He whistled at Ana, who dimpled and then exchanged an amused eye roll with Peggy. “Well, have fun, kids. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Jarvis sighed. “In matters of romance, I try to make it my practice to never do anything you _would_ do,” he said, stiffly, and Howard grinned.

Peggy took a sandwich as the Jarvises disappeared through the door at the top of the stairs. “I called the office,” she said, offering Howard the platter. “The apartment is no longer a crime scene, but it should be unoccupied, as the owner is still in our custody.”

Howard reached for a sandwich. “Good,” he said. “Peg, this thing is - we might want to reconsider whether we’ve really wiped Hydra out after all. It’s almost definitely Hydra tech, and nothing we saw during the war. Which might just mean they never got around to using it, but - ”

Peggy swallowed the bite she was chewing. “What do you expect to find at the apartment?”

“Just want to take a look-see,” he said. “I’ve been working on a detector that should pick up pretty faint traces of Tesseract energy at close range.” Peggy frowned at him, a question on her lips, and he suddenly became very interested in his sandwich, “If I can make it sensitive enough, I might be able to find the wreckage of the Valkyrie,” he said, quietly. “The prototype isn’t anywhere near ready for that, but it should work for something like this.”

Peggy stared at her own sandwich. The loss of Steve still hurt. It was probably always going to hurt. But, these moments didn’t come as often as they had at first, and they didn’t last as long. Most of the time now she was able to remember him fondly and a little wistfully, without the sharp pangs of grief that had characterized that first year.

So, she cleared her throat, and gave Howard a small smile. “Well,” she asked, “shall we go on a little expedition?”

He set down his sandwich and grinned. “Lead the way, Peg. Hey,” he added, “want to stop for a bite to eat on the way back? Dessert, maybe?”

“All right,” said Peggy. “But just to make things absolutely clear, I am _not_ going to be your Valentine.”

******************

Now, as the two of them tiptoed up the stairs to the apartment, the downstairs guard safely stowed in Howard’s car boot, Peggy wondered what Agent Roberts had missed. She briefly considered calling for backup before deciding it was too late for that. She used the mirror from her compact to peer into the third floor corridor, and frowned. There was a man there, clearly guarding the door to the apartment.

“I’d like to take him out without alerting either the neighbours or whoever’s inside,” she breathed, as Howard nodded.

“I’ve got all sorts of gadgets back in the lab that would help us,” he said quietly, “but I didn’t come prepared for company.”

Peggy shrugged. “Well, let’s hope he doesn’t know me by sight,” she said, and set about disheveling her hair and removing her jacket. She dug for her tube of Sweet Dreams, applied a coat, then considered and opened the top two buttons of her blouse. Howard’s eyebrows crawled toward his hairline. “Oh, shut up or I’ll kiss you too,” she said, dropping the tube back into her case.

She handed the case along with her jacket to Howard, then took one of her shoes in her hand and limped into the hallway. The guard’s eyes narrowed, and she could see his hand move toward the gun at his hip, but he didn’t draw it. “Oh,” she said, in a breathy, frightened American accent, her eyes wide and startled. “You aren’t a friend of Tom’s are you?”

The guard’s hand relaxed a tiny bit, and he frowned. “No.”

Peggy continued to limp down the hallway. “Oh, thank God. I don’t know what I was thinking going out with him, everyone told me he was bad news. And I’ve broken a heel!” she held up the shoe in her hand, and his eyes flicked towards it. Good. She kept limping towards him, eyes on the doorway just past the one he was guarding. “I just want to have a hot bath and forget this whole evening ever happened,” she said, blinking away tears.

She was close enough now to wrestle the gun out of his hand, but she wasn’t entirely sure she could do it silently. As she drew past him, she stumbled, and he reached out an annoyed hand to stop her from crashing into him. Their eyes met. “Oh!” she breathed, and leaned in to kiss him softly.

He made a surprised noise that might have been a protest, but he was already blinking, losing his grasp on consciousness, and she lowered him carefully down to the ground, slipping her shoe back on and re-buttoning her blouse as Howard approached from the stairwell. He silently helped her carry the unconscious guard back to the landing, smirking as she wiped the excess lipstick onto her handkerchief. “I always knew you were a knockout kisser, Carter,” he said.

“It’s not too late for me to stuff this into your mouth, Howard” she replied, tartly. Howard grinned and gestured down the hall. “So, what’s the plan, Director?”

She considered. “We have to assume there’s at least one person in there, probably more.” She leaned down and dug the guard’s keys from the pocket of his pants. “But no matter the number, they’re in a confined space. I think this is our best option.” She dug through her briefcase and pulled out a green canister and a gas mask.

Howard raised his eyebrows. “Smoke grenade?”

She nodded. “I’ve only got the one mask, so I’ll nip in and subdue them, then open the windows and let in some air for you.”

Howard nodded. “How long’s this guy likely to be out for?” He prodded at the fallen guard with one toe.

Peggy shrugged. “At least ten minutes. And he’ll wake up confused.”

“Should we drag him in with the others?” Howard asked, and Peggy nodded.

“Yes, once they’re neutralized. I’ll be back in a moment.”

It was almost disappointingly easy to clear the apartment. Peggy approached the door, examined the lock on the door and selected the right key, then silently tried the knob. It was locked, but the key slid in easily, and in one motion she wrenched open the door, threw in the smoke grenade, and shut the door almost silently, so as not to alert the neighbors. She counted to fifteen then donned the gas mask and slipped inside.

None of the four men inside, gasping for breath, offered much resistance. One of the men had managed to get a window open just before she subdued him, and she opened the rest of the windows to air out the smoke before looking around for something to secure her prisoners with. The smoke had mostly cleared by the time she returned with Howard, carrying the still-unconscious body of the guard from the hallway.

“I’m glad you and I are on the same side,” said Howard, surveying the group of burly men, all neatly bound with neckties Peggy had found in the bedroom closet. He grinned and looked like he was about to add something, and Peggy sighed.

“If I ever find it necessary to tie you up, Howard, I assure you, you won’t enjoy the experience.” She opened her briefcase and replaced the gas mask and the spent canister. “All right, get out your detector, and I’ll take a look at what our friends here have been up to this evening.”

The men had clearly been packing things up, in the process of moving to a safer location now that the occupant of the apartment was in SHIELD custody. Agent Roberts had missed several well-hidden hidey holes, and Peggy exchanged a startled glance with Howard once they realized the volume of evidence they’d found.

“Clearly we need to put our agents through a remedial course in evidence-gathering” he said, as Peggy hauled file after file out from behind a false wall in the bedroom closet. He himself had found several neat racks of the Tesseract grenades in a safe hidden behind the refrigerator.

Peggy nodded. “A team searched the apartment after Roberts found the single grenade in a sock drawer. They shouldn’t have missed this.”

They stared at each other. Whoever had made the grenades had access to the Tesseract. And there was little chance a SHIELD team had actually been this incompetent. Bloody hell. “Does anybody know we’re here?” asked Howard. “You haven’t called for backup yet, have you?”

Peggy shook her head. “But someone will eventually miss these gentlemen and their friend from downstairs.”

Howard looked thoughtful. “I have an idea that might buy us some time.”

*********

“I’m so sorry,” Peggy told the Jarvises. “If it wasn’t an emergency…”

Ana waved her hand dismissively. “We’ve had a lovely evening. We were on our way home when Mr. Stark buzzed for Edwin.” Both she and her husband looked a little flushed, and Peggy had not missed the heated little glances they were shooting at each other when they thought nobody was looking. She knew exactly how they felt, having been in the same position more than once with Steve during the war. Duty so often called at the most inconvenient times.

Howard went downstairs with Jarvis to bring in the equipment he’d requested, then they made a second trip to get the guard from Howard’s car, dosing him with Peggy's lipstick-smeared handkerchief before uncuffing him and supporting him between them up the stairs as if he’d had too much to drink, perhaps drowning his sorrows at being stood up on Valentine’s Day.

“I see we are having another adventure,” said Ana to Peggy, surveying the five men already laid out on the living room carpet.

Peggy felt a pang of guilt that had nothing to do with interrupting the Jarvises’ romantic evening. “I - our last adventure ended rather badly for you. If you’d rather not - ”

“Oh no, I have no desire to be left waiting at home,” Ana assured her. “I trust you will do your best to keep me from being shot again, and I've been spending a great deal of time wrestling with Edwin.” She shot Peggy an impish glance. “On the judo mat. I feel that if I’m to be friends with you, I would do well to learn to defend myself against the unexpected.”

Peggy sighed. “That does seem wise, I’m afraid.”

Ana grinned at her. “I’ve been taking lessons from Rose whenever we’re in California. I have already learned to counteract the patented Tortoise of Fury.” She flexed her fingers, then dimpled. “Besides, the excitement of these little adventures does wonders for Edwin’s libido.”

Peggy closed her eyes. “I would _really_ rather not know that.”

“Know what?” asked Howard, shouldering through the door. He and Jarvis laid the last guard on the carpet beside the others, and Peggy re-cuffed him.

“No time for that now,” she said. “We need to get to work.” She cleared her throat. “It appears that Hydra may not be as defunct as we had hoped, and SHIELD has quite possibly been compromised.” She glanced at the Jarvises. “I do truly hate to interrupt your anniversary evening, but we need immediate help, and until we investigate further, I have to treat everyone in SHIELD as potentially suspect.”

Both of the Jarvises nodded. “It is fine, we are very happy to help fight Hydra Nazis,” Ana said. “What do you need us to do?”

Peggy gestured at the men on the floor. “Right now, we have the advantage of surprise - nobody has any idea we’ve discovered this. However, I’m quite certain these gentlemen are expected somewhere, and I don’t think our element of surprise will last long enough for us to be able to read through all of these files and begin the delicate task of weeding out Hydra agents without alerting their superiors.”

“Ah,” said Jarvis. “Hence the memory inhibitors.”

“Yes,” nodded Peggy. “Howard has assured me that he’s worked out a few issues, and that it will be safe to erase up to six hours from these men’s memories.”

Ana frowned. “But they will still know something has happened to them. One does not just randomly forget a six hour period, and with all six of them having the same gap in their memories - ”

“Yes,” said Peggy again. “And we can’t leave these weapons for them to use. But,” she added, “we may be able to make it look as if they were attacked by someone who was only after the weapons, and never discovered the files. Howard informs me that this rather unwieldy machine you’ve hauled up here” she indicated the cardboard box that Howard and Jarvis had brought up on their first trip from downstairs, “can make rapid and clear copies of documents.”

Howard nodded. “The basic principle is under patent by somebody else. But I started tinkering around with it for fun and made a few improvements.”

Jarvis looked at the enormous stack of files. “Good Lord, how long will it take to copy all of these? We’ll still have to feed in the papers one at a time.”

“I think we can set up an assembly line,” said Peggy, “while the fourth person stacks the files back in the false wall and wipes the apartment for prints. It will still take some time, though, which is why we need to start immediately.”

Jarvis sighed, sent a quick longing glance at Ana, then frowned. “But won’t they suspect us regardless? Who else would have known about the apartment?”

Peggy smiled. “Who do we know who’s a free agent working against almost everybody? Formerly associated with Leviathan, someone who may well have an interest both in securing the weapons and in disrupting these people’s plans?”

“Ah yes,” said Jarvis, nodding. “Miss Underwood.”

“Precisely,” said Peggy. “So, we leave her calling card behind.” She reached into her briefcase and showed them.

Ana frowned. “It is an actual calling card.”

“Yes,” sighed Peggy. “She left it for me shortly after we lost track of her in Los Angeles. I think she’s had them printed up.”

Howard snorted, and Peggy sighed again. “Dottie and I have a very complicated relationship.”

*********

Fighting Nazis or not, copying all the files and wiping the apartment of evidence was wearying work, and they were all yawning by the time they got back to Howard’s.

“Stay over, Peg,” said Howard, pouring himself a scotch, then holding out the bottle inquiringly to the rest of them. “We can get started on these files in the morning. We’ll need to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with before we can really make a plan.”

Peggy nodded, accepting a tumbler of scotch. “I’ll make up a room for you,” said Jarvis, and Peggy shook her head.

“No, I know my way around by now. You two go to bed. I’ve done quite enough to muck up your anniversary evening.”

Ana smiled and slid her arm around her husband. “Not at all, Peggy. Edwin and I had a lovely dinner, enjoyed some dancing, and then helped thwart some Nazis. And it is not morning yet.”

Jarvis jumped slightly, and Peggy was fairly certain Ana had just grabbed his bottom. He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, then, I suppose we’ll be off to bed. Good night.” Ana winked at Peggy before the two of them disappeared upstairs.

Howard sighed. “Lana Turner,” he said, wistfully. He drained his glass. “God, Peggy, what the hell have we discovered?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but hopefully we’ve bought ourselves a little time to find out.” They sat in silence for a moment.

“What made you decide to bring the grenade to me here instead of having it analyzed in the lab at SHIELD?” asked Howard, suddenly. “We’re damned lucky you did, but why - ”

Peggy, who had been taking a generous sip of scotch, nearly snorted it out of her nose. “Good God, Howard, you're right,” she said. “If you hadn’t required a babysitter, the whole thing might have gone very differently.”

He blinked. “A - what?”

Peggy shrugged. “Mr. Jarvis was worried you were going to require his services at the last moment so that he and Ana wouldn’t be able to go out. So he enlisted me to keep you busy.”

Howard raised his eyebrows. “That seems a little extreme. Why didn’t he just ask for the evening off?”

Peggy looked at him.

“Okay,” he admitted, “I was about to ask him to call Lana Turner for me when you showed up.”

They grinned at each other, then lapsed back into contemplative silence. After a while, Howard refilled his glass and held it up in front of him. “To not following standard procedure.”

Peggy leaned across to clink her glass against his, and yawned. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Howard.” She stood up. “Now get some sleep. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and I don’t intend to do it alone.”

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> When I started writing this, I did not in any way intend for Peggy and Howard to discover that Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD. But, they did, and now I have a file full of notes about what happens next, and I think it may be a series.


End file.
